Events
at Sea by Pullmantur Cruises
The
events listed have been reported in the public domain or to
cruisejunkie by passengers or crew members onboard. The list is
by no
means comprehensive. For that reason it is necessary to be
cautious in
drawing conclusions from the potentially limited data. Keep in
mind
that some companies may be more transparent than others about things
that go wrong; conversely, some companies may be better at concealing
events and thereby project an appearance that is inaccurate. With
that
said, the following list is still interesting, as are the patterns seen
viewed separately by ship.

dd/mm/yy

Ship

2012

Incident

December 6

Empress

Brazilian press reports a 23 year old passenger was hospitalized in serious condition after falling from the balcony of an ocean liner that was in the port of Itajai (SC). The accident occurred around 14h on Sunday. According to the municipal Tourism, Gabriel Moura Campos tried to take a picture when he slipped and fell from the 10th to the 8th floor of the ship. After the accident, the young man was rescued by the ship's medical staff and taken by ambulance to the port of Itajai Hospital Marieta Konder Bornhausen. He suffered head trauma and is in ICU.

Pax falls on ship

dd/mm/yy

Ship

2010

Incident

9.9.10

Atlantic Star

Spanish media (here and here) report the ship lacked air conditioning (causing stifling heat in cabins) and problems with overflowing or leaking toilets.This was caused by an electrical problem. The cruise began on Sunday from Málaga; on Wednesday it made a stop at the Port of Arrecife and, by decision of the tour operator to the situation that existed on board because of a problem in the power supply,the cruise was suspended. Passengers were flown back to either Malaga or Lisbon. The ship was on the "Jewels of the Atlantic," replacing Pacific Dream which suffered engine failure last August (see August 17). (Covered in the English press here.)

Cruise suspended

17.8.10

Pacific Dream

Media in Spain and Portugal report the ship has experienced engine failure and forced to cancel its current cruise and several subsequent cruises. The ship will undergo repairs in Morocco. It had been sailing a seven-day intinerary from Malaga with stops at Gibraltar, Lisbon, Agadir, Casablanca and Lanzarote. UPDATE August 25: The company annnounced that Atlantic Star, which was laid up last year, will be reactivated and will assume the itineraries previously planned for Pacific Dream. The ship will begin operations on August 27th.

Engine failure - cruises cancelled

29.4.10

Sovereign

From a reader: A Russian man, 54 years old, went overboard from the ship Sovereign after it left from Civitavecchia harbour. A search was immediatly undertaken with 11 patrol boats and airplanes. The man was found dead from a patrol boat out of Livorno sea. From Italian paper "Il Tirreno".

Person overboard

dd/mm/yy

Ship

2009

Incident

18.8.09

Zenith

The
Local (Sweden) reports all passengers were evacuated (two crew
members were sent to hospital for smoke inhalation) when the ship had a
major fire while docked at Stockholm. The newspaper reports some
passengers jumped into the water from the ship. It is not known where
the fire began (other than in the stern of the vessel) or the full
extent of damages - one report says the fire was caused by a welding
torch. There was considerable smoke coming from the ship even after the
fire was extinguished. UPDATE: The ship sailed at
5:30 AM on August 19th (it had been scheduled to leave yesterday
evening). One crewman was released from hospital this morning, and the
other is expected to be released later today. The fire had been sparked
by welding on a lower deck. Apart from smoke, there was no damage to
the ship. UPDATE: Swedish morning newspaper Dagens
Nyheter confirmed that the fire was started by two welders doing work
at the front end of a lower deck. The two men unsuccessfully tried to
bring the fire under control themselves and ended up going to the
hospital for smoke inhalation.

Fire

20.6.09

Ocean Dream

Radio Jamaica reports health authorities in Aruba have been checking passengers and crew from the cruise ship for signs of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.
The Dutch territory's health ministry said the tests were a precaution to prevent the spread of the virus.
The ship arrived back in Aruba late Monday. The passengers' Caribbean trip was cut short after three crew members tested positive for the H1N1 virus while eleven others showed symptoms. Authorities in Aruba have not ruled out some of the passengers spending more time on the vessel.
The people on board were said to be calm but frustrated by the long wait and lack of information. UPDATE: Taiwan News reports all but one passenger disembarked Saturday (June 20) and 400 crewmembers will disembark Tuesday. The single passenger and three crewmembers tested positive and are under quarantine onboard the ship.

Swine flu

18.6.09

Ocean Dream

BBC News reportsVenezuela has quarantined the ship following an outbreak of swine flu on board. More than 1,200 passengers and crew will be kept on board the vessel, which has docked at the Venezuelan island of Margarita. They were stopped from disembarking at previous stops in Barbados and Grenada after three crew members were diagnosed with the flu virus. Eleven more crew members are reported to have symptoms. "The virus was detected in three crew members and the boat must now stay in quarantine until June 24," said Venezuelan health official Jorge Alchaer. UPDATE June 19: Safety at Sea International reports the ship is headed for Aruba today after 342 Venezuelan passengers went ashore. The cruise line issued a statement today denying that Venezuela quarantined the ship until 24 June, as Caracas had earlier said. "The ship is continuing its itinerary to Aruba, where the rest of passengers and affected crew members will disembark in strict accordance with security measures established by Aruba's health authorities," Pullmantur added. Ocean Dream left Isla de Margarita off Venezuela, carrying 198 Spanish passengers and 151 Colombians, said the company, which added three crew members infected with swine flu and 11 others with flu symptoms were all improving.

Swine flu

18.6.09

Ocean Dream

Reuters India reports the ship was refused entry to Bridgetown, Barbados because of reports of flu-like symptoms among its occupants, shipping agents in Bridgetown said.

Swine flu

16.6.09

Ocean Dream

Grenada Broadcasting Network reports the ship, which was scheduled to visit Grenada on Monday, was turned away by health authorities. Passengers were prohibited from coming ashore by the Ministry of Health because some crew members were exhibiting flu like symptoms. Geo. F. Huggins & Co. (G'da) ltd; local agents for the ship, confirm that the company was informed by the vessel that approximately forty (40) crew members onboard were found to be exhibiting flu-like symptoms. As a precautionary measure, the Ministry of Health prohibited the disembarkation of any passenger or crew member.

Swine flu

8.5.09

Zenith

Cruising
Talk reports the ship went aground on the approach to Copenhagen
having cruised too close to a wind farm of twenty four turbines on
Saturday in the Oresund Strait. Local reports have said that the ships
captain has been fined as a result of the incident. She is at present
operating seven day cruises, departing on a Saturday, from Copenhagen
or Helsinki with calls at Gdynia, St Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallin.
She was about 24 hours late when she sailed at 18.45 hrs. tonight from
Copenhagen.

Aground

28.1.09

Ocean Dream

Grenadian police say they are investigating how a
38-year-old Colombian woman went missing after she disembarked the
ship. The employee disembarked the vessel on an early Tuesday port call
to the island but did not return.

Crew member missing

dd/mm/yy

Ship

2008

Incident

27.7.08

Zenith

Two ships collided in
Greece's main port of Piraeus causing damage but no injuries. Zenith,
carrying 1,819 passengers and 619 crew,
hit the Greek-flagged Aegean Pearl
(Louis Cruises) as Zenith
attempted to tie up
in
the port. Aegean Pearl was
carrying 504 passengers and 349 crew
members. Nobody was injured but port authorities were not allowing them
to
sail until the damage to both ships was assessed. Passengers remained
on board as the ships were not in any danger. Aegean Pearl had been scheduled to
depart Piraeus Monday morning
for a cruise stopping at Mykonos, Kusadasi in Turkey and then
continuing to the Greek islands of Patmos, Crete and Santorini. Zenith had arrived in Piraeus after
setting off from Venice,
Italy, and stopping in Croatia and the Greek islands of Rhodes, Mykonos
and Santorini. UPDATE:Aegean
Pearl was damaged at deck
level on the starboard side -- some of
the lifeboats were also damaged. The ship was passed to sail
without passengers to Neorion Shipyard on the island of Syros where
it is currently undergoing repairs and is scheduled to resume sailing
in a week’s time. In the interim passengers booked on Aegean Pearl will be
offered similar itineraries on Louis Hellenic’s Aquamarine or Cristal.

Collision

25.3.08

Sky Wonder

The ship ran aground as a result of
strong winds while the port of Kusadasi (Turkey). A total of 1,029
passengers were evacuated and brought to Kusadasi safely; the cruise
was canceled. According to Think
Spain: It seems that the
captain of the'Sky Wonder' made a mistake as he was manoeuvering the
elderly vessel towards the dock, and given that the ship's reverse gear
was not working and that the Turkish port's tug boats were out of
action, could do nothing to prevent her from slowly drifting on to a
sand bank where she became stuck. The passengers only agreed to abandon
ship after receiving guarantees from the Pullmantour company that
organised the cruise. According to one of the passengers, Marta (26, from Madrid), "at the
start they only offered us a 50% discount on our next cruise. "A protest meeting was organised and the
passengers - already fuming about not being kept informed about the
situation - opened negotiations, eventually agreeing to accept not only
a full refund (around €900 euros), but also the promised 50% discount. The ship previously ran
aground January 2007 -- click
here for details.

Aground

20.3.08

Holiday Dream

Three ships (RCI's Serenade of the Seas, HAL's Maasdam, and
Pullmantur's Holiday Dream) were prevented from docking at Bridgetown
because of high seas. Two of the ships made it into port, but a
decision was made to not disembark passengers. A fourth ship,
Silversea's Silver Wind cancelled its call for March 21, also because
of sea conditions.

Canceled port call

20.2.08

Sky Wonder

A failure in the steam system left the ship with no electric
power -- it took place 10km far from Punta Del Este. The lack of energy
left a lot of passengers worried. According to CVC, no one was hurt,
despite the turmoil. By morning the crew brought passengers on tenders
ashore and the ship was pushed to the local port for repairs. At the
end of the afternoon, when passengers returned to the ship from tous,
the problem was solved and the trip resumed.

Power failure

dd/mm/yy

Ship

2007

Incident

18.1.07

Sky Wonder

The ship ran aground
in the Rio de la Plata in the early morning, three kilometres away from
the port of Buenos Aires. Authorities say there were no injuries
(though one passenger was subsequently evacuated after complaining of
arrhythmia)
and indicated strong wind and sea currents pushed the ship to a bank of
sand.
After three tug-boats failed in the effort to "rescue" the ship, the
plan was to wait for high tide. The ship was freed after 20 hours and
was delayed a further 4 hours while the ship underwent a full
technical inspection.

Grounded

dd/mm/yy

Ship

Pre-2006

Incident

7.8.04

R6 Blue Star

It was reported in Kathimerini
(English
edition) in Athens that 30 passengers (3.82%) and 2 crew members came
down with gastroenteritis on a seven-day cruise from Venice. The
ship
is carrying 785 passengers and 388 crew.

Illness

NOTES:

Atlantic Star: ex-Sky Wonder, ex-Pacific Sky (P&O
Australia), ex-Sky Princess (Princess), ex-Fairsky (Sitmar) -- ship was laid up the thrid quarter of 2009 and is expected to be sold to Capt. Paris Katsoufis of Kyma Ship Management in the fourth quarter.